Bringing Pet Service to Your Doorstep

By Jose Bustos
“I don’t need anything except your pet.”
Bring me your bow-wows, bring me your meows-meows. Actually, you won’t have to take your pet anywhere, as Alisha Bachmann’s Yellowstone Mobile Pet Grooming comes to you. Whether your family friend is feline or canine she brings her pet grooming business to your home in the form of a mobile van.

Although not a new idea in some of the more populated cities, it is a new concept for the Yellowstone Valley. A mobile business that will come to your residence to treat your pet to a warm bath and a haircut, a style most becoming, befitting one of such significance.
Bachmann started her business soon after talking with her close friend and advisor, Colleen Clayton of Napa Valley, California, Clayton has been a pet groomer for 11 years, the last two years with her own mobile unit. In June of 2017, Bachmann traveled to Napa Valley to job-shadow her friend and mentor Clayton, for a week, just to observe the operation of her mobile business. After a ride along in Clayton’s mobile unit, and experiencing the dynamic of the mobile pet grooming business, it was an easy decision for Bachmann and her husband Chad, to invest in their own mobile unit.
Bachmann started her business in July 2017. Custom built from a 2016 Ford commercial transit van by Brett’s RV in Lockwood, it sports a 50-gallon warm water tank, for your pet’s bath, and a 50-gallon clear water tank for your pet’s rinse. Always hygienically and environmentally conscious, Bachmann disposes “gray” water, (the water used to rinse a pet once bathed), into registered and certified recreational vehicle disposal tanks and never directly into Billings’ city waste water facilities. After bathing and grooming each pet, Bachmann scrubs and disinfects her pet grooming facility, therefore insuring a healthy and wholesome “salon” for her next customer.
Bachmann has two power generators for her own 110-volt self-sufficient operation, thus allowing her to operate completely independent of any outside power source. For larger and older pets, she has an electrically operated table to raise and lower a pet to a comfortable grooming.
The table is ergonomically designed to allow the operator to efficiently conduct the grooming. The electrically operated table also eliminates the physical stress of having your pet jump up for his/her grooming, no matter its weight. Thus from the start of your pet’s grooming, they are put at ease. Bachmann boasts, “I can handle a 4-pound toy poodle, or a 200 pound St. Bernard with ease.”
Attention to your pet’s comfort throughout its warm bath and grooming process, is the hallmark of Bachmann’s pet grooming.
Unceasing in her concern about her “customer’s comfort”, your pet is never caged, and Bachmann uses a warm air, variable velocity hand held dryer. Bachmann will always keep a warm hand on your pet, smiling and talking softly to them, even complimenting them on their handsome looks for the “guys” and of course the beauty of her “ladies.”
Knowing and loving animals, Bachmann knows that a smile and sincerity in her voice simply puts your pet at ease. When servicing households with more than one pet, she can keep them together for the instinctual “pack,” or social grouping, that canines inherently rely on for survival. For our domesticated dogs, even a short separation from each other can bring on unnecessary stress.
The length of time a pet is away from their owners and their familiar surroundings is of paramount concern in Bachmann’s approach to home service. As the “brick and mortar” pet grooming business may take your pet away from home anywhere from 4 to 6 hours, Yellowstone Mobile Pet Grooming keeps your pet in their own familiar surroundings — averaging 75 minutes in a friendly, warm and comfortable facility, then brought back to their own living room.
A pet groomer is a “special breed” of individual, as the technical skills needed for each pet is of utmost concern for a pet grooming business. Consider, for instance, the delicate, detailed skill needed to trim a cat’s fur. It’s a welcome challenge for Bachmann.
She puts the family cat at ease with soft soothing words and a tender touch that gives your cat a sense of security, thus less stress for your feline friend. Knowing that cats are by nature independent and feisty, Bachmann uses this approach to get that special cut for some, or the “Lion Cut” some owners may want for their pet. When natural personal grooming no longer works for a cat, their coat can tend to get so matted that brushes and grooming tools may irritate their skin, in this case the only solution will be a de-matting service or shaving. A professional grooming service is recommended for senior or older cats that can no longer naturally groom themselves.
Bachmann can be reached at 406-794-5251.

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The Big Sky Business Journal is a locally owned bi-weekly news publication located in Billings, Montana. It was started by Dennis and Evelyn Pyburn in 1982, making it the first business publication in the state. It is the only independent business publication (not associated with daily newspapers) in the Montana.